Storyline: 10/10
This game starts out with some text telling how the Overlord of the Netherworld, King Kerchovskey, had died two years ago. And now the residents of the netherworld are starting to get restless, and want to claim the throne for themselves. However, there is one thing that stands in their way. The king had a son, the prince Laharl. Cut scenes to the prince's room, where the prince peacefully sleeps, while his loyal (questionable) vassal, Etna tries to wake him up. At the current moment, she is trying to wake him up by shooting him with a large gun. Behind her, you see several other large, torturous, and rather painful weapons, which have obviously failed in their task. A large mace, big cannon, large sword, giant hammer... Well, after some more time of struggle, Etna finally manages to wake the prince. Who is soon informed that his father had died 2 years ago, and that he had been sleeping for 4. What was the cause of death of his father? He died by choking on a pretzel. Well... It WAS a Black Pretzel, so at least he died honorably... The prince is slightly annoyed by this, but what can he do? So, he takes over the claim for overlord. Ah, but its not so simple... He has been sleeping for 4 years, after all... The other demons don't find him worthy to be an overlord, and wish the throne for themselves. Now the prince must battle other demons for the right to claim his rightful position as the Overlord of the Netherworld. But with his loyal vassals at his side, there is no way he can fail... right? Well... His vassals aren't all that loyal... In fact, the only one that will actually help him (somewhat) is Etna... So, there is a long road ahead of him, but its no problem for the future Overlord, right?

I must say, that the storyline of this game is truly marvelous! It is very deep, and quite serious at times, but yet, still very humorous at many points. This has to be the first game in which the storyline has actually moved me. Usually it takes a really good anime series to do that. The game's levels are subdivided into Episodes. The funniest thing has to be that in between each Episode, Etna does a Next Episode Preview. This usually greatly parodies various anime genres in VERY humorous ways. There is just something about her commentary that is just funny as hell.

Graphics: 7/10
If you are looking for some serious 3D graphics that REALLY push the limits of the system's capabilities... Well, you got the wrong game.
There isn't too much in way of graphics in this game. The characters are kind of just 2D sprites in a 3D world.
However, if you ARE in search of great Anime graphics, then you are in the right place. The character Portraits (During the talking scenes, big portraits of the characters show up.) are BEAUTIFULLY done. And a great deal of care was done on the character designs and expressions. There are many different types of character classes, and each have a very distinct, and well designed look to them. And the monster design is good too, though I'm not so concerned about monsters. So, even though the characters are 2D sprites in the game, they still look VERY good!
Though, there was a good deal of 3D animation done for the special attacks. And they were done quite well too. I still stare in awe every time Laharl uses his Blazing Knuckle, Winged Slayer, or Overlord's Wrath attacks.

Music: 9/10
The game's soundtrack was very well done. Though, there has never been a game in which I absolutely HAD TO HAVE the soundtrack to (with the exception of Chrono Trigger), this game comes the closest! The music is very fitting to what's going on in the game. Seeming to have a darker tone, but yet, still a more upbeat tone at the same time. Its hard to explain, but you can see it evident in the BGM that plays in the Castle. The battle music is good, not too boring, and not the same music in every area. It usually changes in each area you visit. Though, some music in the game really stand out to me. The song that plays in the background of the Episode title is very pretty, though quite short. Its kind of like a Celtic singing... but its quite soothing. Also, a song that plays during one of the Episodes called Akai Tsuki (Red Moon). Its more of an Acapella song, but it is rather melancholy in tone, yet still very pretty at the same time.
Now, I can't end the Music section without talking about what has to be the best song of the game, The Invasion From Within by Tsunami Bomb. Tsunami Bomb is an American Punk Rock group from California, and I have been quite obsessed with them since my discovery of them. They allowed the usage of their song in the game, and I have to say that it fits REALLY well! This song has a very Gothic Rock feel to it, and that is why it fits so well with the game. Unfortunately, you wont get to hear the song until sometime late into the game... I know this because I'm on Episode 13, and STILL haven't heard it in the game yet.

Sound: 8/10
The sound of the game... Humm... Well, the sound effects were well done. Nothing sounds off, and all was done right. But hey, they are sound effects. They only play a small part...
What I'm really going to talk about here, is the Voice Work in the game.
Now, the thing that REALLY pleased me about this game (and what I also liked so much about .hack) is that Atlus actually LEFT IN the original Japanese Audio Track! This, of course, means that you can choose to play the game with English dialogue, or Japanese dialogue. Of course, everything said is printed in English captions anyway, so you can understand either way. Needless to say, I play with the Japanese voicing.
One problem, however, is that no matter what language you choose, the character In Battle voices (little taunts and such they say as they attack or use special techniques) are only in English. Some voices aren't all that bad (Such as Laharl's ["Here I Come!] and Etna's ["Drop Dead!"]), but some are HORRID!!! (I still cringe every time Flonne says her little "Lord, give me strength!" line, or Gordon's REALLY stupid sounding voice (err... think Kuwabara from the FUNimation dub. XD [Gordon... CRUSH!!!!]). But Gordon was never one of my favorite characters (His robot, Thursday's voice is even worse...), but his Japanese voice is pretty cool. Its like one of those over egotistical hero voices... You know, the ones that always gets their ass kicked anyway? (I still love his GWAAAAA!!! and NOOOOOO!!!! screams in Japanese!)
However... the best thing in voicing... has to be the Prinnies... They sound cool in Japanese, but their In Battle voices are funny. See, Prinnies (Weird little Penguin things) have a certain character trait in which they say Dood! after every line. [Aye aye, dood!!] There is nothing more satisfying then having a four way combo attack with four Prinnies, as they scream, Dood! while maiming your foe.

Gameplay: 10/10
Gameplay... Wow! All I can say, is wow.
I've never been much of a fan of Strategy RPGs... I mean, I've never hated them, just never LOVED them...
This game changes all that.
Yes, this would be he first Strategy RPG that I absolutely LOVE!
Well, with that said, I better describe the Gameplay.
Gameplay in Disgaea is pretty straight forward, and much like most other SRPGs.
Battle takes place on one big map. Its a grid map, divided into squares. Oh, and there is terrain too. These squares indicate an area of space that a character can move, or stand in. Everything is measured in these spaces. Attack distance, move distance, positioning, special attack range. I think you get the concept.
When a map starts out, there will be enemy characters inhabiting several of these spaces, usually at either random or strategic spaces, depending on the map.
However, you don't have any characters out... yet. There is a glowing blue "Base" panel. This is where you dispatch your units from. You can also move your characters back into the base panel, for safety, or to switch out characters.
Now, you can have as MANY characters in your party as you want. See, you can create characters. These characters must be created as disciples of a pre existing character. Starting with Laharl or Etna in the beginning, of course. Any character can have as many disciples as you want. Oh, and there are many different types of classes of characters, both Monsters and Humanoid. Though, many are the same kind of class, but an upgraded version (Ronin -> Kendoka -> Samurai... etc...). Each class usually specializes in a type of weapon. There are 7 weapon types. Sword, Spear, Fist, Bow, Gun, Axe, and Staff.
Warriors specialize in Swords, Fighter in Fists, Archers in Bows, and so on.
Each weapon type leads to different special skills. Your skills are learned by your Weapon Mastery level. (Yeah, the game is THAT deep!)
The more you use a weapon, and the more times you use a weapon related skill (Oh yeah, the Skills THEMSELVES level up individually as well.), the higher your weapon mastery increases, and the higher that gets, the more skills you get!
Simple concept... but still rather difficult to master, of course.
Main characters, such as Laharl, Etna, and Flonne, have character specific skills that are earned by the character's level themselves.
Monsters use a separate type of weapons that are monster only. Only one type though, so no confusion there. Monsters have skills specific to their class as their level increases. They have no weapon mastery.
Weapons, along with all other items you may need (Armor, accessories, restorative goods, etc...) are purchased (of course) at the shop in the castle with the local currency, Hell (HL).
However, the funniest thing about this game, has to be the descriptions of the items, and mainly weapons. (The best example by far, is the description for the Monster-Only weapon, Tentacles, which the description reads, "Perfect for groping all sorts of places!". This gives a good example of the sense of humor of this game.)
Now, back to where I was before I got sidetracked on a long chain of details...
A BIG catch. As I said, you can have as many characters as you want... And you dispatch them from the Base Panel in battle... The catch? You can only dispatch up to 10 characters at a time! Yeah, that really sucks... But you can't have ALL the advantage, right? So you must build your characters, and choose wisely during battle. Of course, as I said, you can return a character back to the base panel (by moving them there, or getting another character to throw them in. Yeah, you can throw, and it plays a KEY role in many maps! Plus... Prinnies EXPLODE when thrown... Very useful... but you have a very dead Prinny afterwards.) Once you move a character back to the base panel, you can bring another out. But beware... If a character dies.... Yeah, you are back down to 9 characters, right? You can just bring another out! Heh... wrong. If a character dies, your limit is just lowered by one.
Now, another key tactic of battle, is the setting up of Combo Attacks. You can arrange characters in certain positions so they have a chance of joining in on another character's attack. You can get up to 4 people in a team attack, which are usually really cool, and cause loads of damage.
Of course, the special attacks in battle are awesome. And most have a certain attack radius that can either be really useful, or very annoying, depending on the situation.
Now, of course, there is a lot more to the game than just battle... This is where it gets REALLY weird...
There is a very important thing in the netherworld... That would be the Dark Assembly. Its kind of like Congress of the Netherworld, but REALLY annoying...
Many important things are done by getting the Assembly to vote on it. Of course, since you are the want to be Overlord following in your father's footsteps... They usually don't take too kindly to you. You often have to bribe them with items to get them to vote for you.
The Dark Assembly's approval is need for many things: Creating a new high level character, Raising the price of Items in the shop (Which is greatly needed, or you will be stuck with low level, crap ass items to buy.), Introducing new items to the shop (Footwear, Eyewear, Belts), opening new areas (Cave of Ordeals, Prinnyland), Raising Military Funds (Extorting money) and many other things.
The last important thing of the game, is the Item World.
A very strange concept, in which you can actually go inside an item, and battle through it (Yeah, your items have monsters) to level the items up. Items also have special Inhabitants that can raise the stats of an item. By beating these Inhabitants, you can control them, and even move them to other items to make them better. Certain items have a certain number of inhabitants, and a maximum limit of the number of extra ones you can put in them.

Synopsis:
This is by far, the best game that I have played! Everything is awesome, from the Art Design, to the Music, Voicing and Gameplay. And the game is LONG too... As I said earlier, I am currently on Episode 13, and have invested 48 hours into the game... And I still have a LONG way to go. Oh, and there are 8 different endings! And, when you beat the game (similar to Chrono Trigger), you unlock the New Game + mode, in which you can restart the game, with all the characters you had, with all the weapons, items, levels, and stats they had. (Except for Storyline characters like Laharl, Etna, Flonne, etc...)
Oh... And I forgot to mention... Character levels... They don't end at lvl 99 or 100 like most RPGs... Ohhh noo... They can go up until level 9999. On top of that, you can Transmigrate them at any point. Doing this, will reset them back to level 1, however they will keep the exact same stats they had when they were at the level they were before you transmigrated, giving you the chance to beef them up even more!
The game was wonderfully done, and is really kick ass.
I recommend this game to anyone that likes Anime, RPGs, a really good storyline, or is just really bored, and looking for a good game to play!

Overall Rating: 10/10 (UBERL337! By far, the BEST game I have EVER played! Yeah... Even better than FFVIII, or even Chrono Trigger! Its THAT good!)

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness